Bank notes: Research and reports

Get quick access to our research papers, public consultations and surveys related to bank notes.

See also our backgrounders and explainers on bank notes.

Research papers

You can browse all our staff research on bank notes. Here's the latest:

Public vs. Private Payment Platforms: Market Impacts and Optimal Policy

Staff working paper 2026-10 Youming Liu, Francisco Rivadeneyra, Edona Reshidi
We study the competition between a welfare-maximizing public payment platform (e.g., CBDC or fast payment system) and a profit-maximizing private platform in a two-sided market, deriving optimal public pricing and showing how network effects, fragmentation, and policy mandates like zero fees or cost recovery shape welfare, usage, and fee incidence.

Project Samara Research Paper

Staff analytical paper 2026-8 Rakesh Arora, Umar Faruqui, Scott Hendry, Dinesh Shah, André Usche
Project Samara was a real‑world experiment testing distributed ledger technology and wholesale central bank digital money for bond issuance and settlement in Canada. It demonstrated technical feasibility and potential efficiency and risk‑reduction benefits, while highlighting important trade‑offs related to complexity, governance, and regulatory alignment.

I Am So Tired! I Don’t Know What to Do! Survey Fatigue and Financial Literacy: Results from a Randomized Experiment

Staff working paper 2026-5 Anna Chernesky, Kim Huynh, Marcel Voia
We use a randomization of question placement in surveys to estimate the causal effect on financial literacy results. We find that financial literacy questions placed at the end of a survey lead to a drop in financial literacy of 5%–15%. This research suggests a measure of financial literacy adapted for survey length.

How Do Some Lower-Income Canadians Pay

Previous research suggests that lower-income Canadians may have unique experiences with the use of payments, including the use of cash and digital payments. We conduct a case study using data from [the Canadian Financial Diaries project/Canadian financial diaries] to gain insight into how some lower-income Canadians pay.
Content Type(s): Staff research, Staff analytical paper JEL Code(s): D, D8, D83, E, E4, E41 Research Theme(s): Money and payments, Cash and bank notes, Retail payments

AI Agents for Cash Management in Payment Systems

Staff working paper 2025-35 Iñaki Aldasoro, Ajit Desai
Can artificial intelligence (AI) think and act like a cash manager? In this paper we explore how generative AI agents can help manage liquidity, prioritize payments and optimize efficiency in real-time gross settlement systems.

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Public consultations

Consulting Canadians on visual content is integral to our design process for new bank notes.

Principles for Bank Note Design Consultation

Read the highlights of this consultation, and see how the design principles have been applied to bank notes like these.

Surveys

The Bank regularly surveys Canadian businesses and citizens to better understand how and why cash is used by assessing awareness, attitudes, and behaviours with respect to bank notes.

Survey results allow the Bank to monitor its progress, to identify potential issues or opportunities, and to adapt its programs, tools, and services as needed.

Bank Note Confidence Survey

The Bank of Canada supplies Canadians with bank notes they can use with confidence—notes that are readily accepted and secure against counterfeiting. To monitor and assess public confidence in the authenticity of bank notes, we survey a representative sample of 2,700 residents of Canada annually.

Methods-of-Payment Survey

The Bank of Canada surveys Canadian consumers to get a better understanding of how they pay for goods and services.

Merchant Acceptance Survey

The Merchant Acceptance Survey (MAS) helps the Bank of Canada understand trends when it comes to the methods of payment accepted by Canadian businesses.

Cash and COVID-19: What happened in 2021

Using data from the Bank Note Distribution System and consumer surveys, we find that bank notes in circulation remained high through 2021. Canadians continued to rely on electronic methods of payment, but a significant share also continued using cash for payments.

Frontiers Series: 2011–12 Awareness Survey

This survey measured Canadians’ awareness of the polymer bank notes. Respondents were asked if they recalled hearing of any upcoming changes to Canadian bank notes, and if so, where they first heard of the polymer bank notes.

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